The U.S. managed to maintain its position as the single biggest market for Bentley in 2012, with Americans buying up 2,457 of its luxury cars in 2012, a rise of 22 percent on 2011’s 2,021 units.

China followed closely with 2,253 cars delivered, a rise of 23 percent on 2011’s tally of 1,839 cars and now the largest ever volume for Bentley in the country.

Even in Europe, which is still suffering from an economic crisis, Bentley sales grew 12 percent to 1,333 cars. The increasing popularity of the Bentley brand in growing markets like Russia, where deliveries were up 37 percent, contributed to the strong performance of the region. In the UK 1,104 cars were delivered to customers, a 7 percent increase on the previous year.

Interestingly, it was Japan where Bentley saw the most growth, with sales in the country growing 73 percent to 190 units in 2012, up from just 110 in 2011.

The most popular model by far has been the new Continental GT V8, which accounted for almost one out of every five Bentley sales. The W-12 Continental GT and GT Convertible also maintained strong support, jointly accounting for over a third of all sales.

The Flying Spur also continued to sell well, particularly in China, and with a heavily updated model just around the corner, sales are likely to improve further. Bentley has also just increased its number of dealers worldwide by 10 percent, which should also help improve numbers in the coming year.

“2012 has been an excellent year for Bentley,” Bentley’s new CEO Wolfgang Schreiber said in a statement. “We expect the luxury market in 2013 to continue to be challenging but, with significant new model introductions, we believe we have the potential to maintain growth throughout the year.”